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In a new report on the social unrest witnessed in Jerada, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that the Moroccan authorities responded to March 2018 protests in the former mining town «with weeks of repression».
«The repression in Jerada has gone well beyond an effort to bring allegedly violent protesters to justice», said Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa director, commenting on the events that followed the protests that took place in March in Jerada.
Using force when dispersing protests
The non-governmental organization headquartered in New York stated that security forces in Jerada have allegedly drove a police van into a 16-year-old boy, trying to disperse protests, two months ago in the city.
According to HRW the boy, identified as Abdelmoula Zaiqer, was «severely injured». Giving more details, the organization reported that Zaiqer suffered trauma to the head, hips, feet, and vertebrae, quoting a hospital document showing that he was the victim of a «car accident with a van».
Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights (DIDH) told HRW in an email that Zaiqer was «accidently wounded».
Meanwhile, Najat Mejdaoui presented by the human rights organization as the mother of Zaiqer revealed that the «authorities have pressured her to avoid contacts with journalists and rights activists». She has also told HRW that she has been allegedly followed once by «men in civilian clothing» she thought were police.
Doctors told the mother that her son might not walk again, says Human Rights Watch.
Using force when arresting protesters
In its report, published Monday 4th of June, HRW stated that the authorities in Jerada arrested protest leaders and allegedly mistreated them in detention.
Based on testimonies gathered by its researches who visited the city in April, HRW indicates that on March the 14th, the same day the demonstrations erupted, «police agents broke into houses in Jerada without showing warrants, beat several men upon arrest, and broke doors and windows».
Reportedly, 88 men were arrested following the 14th of March confrontation. They were accused of violence against police officers, destruction of public property, possession of weapons, armed gathering and burning vehicles.
Speaking to Human Rights Watch Abdelhak Benkada, a lawyer who represents 30 of the Jerada protesters, said that the police allegedly used force when arresting protesters.
Mohamed and Abdessamad Habachi, two brothers, told the lawyer that «security forces broke down the door of their house and arrested and beat them».
Tahar Kihel who was arrested and heard by the Oujda Court of Appeals told the investigating judge that he was hit by the police but without him opening an investigation, says the same source.
On the other hand, Khalid Ait El Ghazi told the judge in Oujda’s Court of First Instance that security forces «hit him on the head upon arrest», Benkada told HRW.
Abdelaziz Boudchiche, Tarik El Amri and Amine Lamqallech arrested in Jerada and imprisoned for various charges related to protests claimed they were mistreated by the authorities and held in isolation.
Human Rights Watch's researchers interrogated
The human rights organization said that its researchers were stopped and interrogated at security checkpoints and closely followed by «car containing three men in civilian clothes, apparently prompting contacts to cancel scheduled meetings».
For the record, Protesters and police clashed on the 14th of March in the former mining town of Jerada in connection to an ongoing protest movement. Videos posted on social media by activists showed a tense standoff as a new sit-in began in the city.
A social unrest erupted in the city in December 2017, after two brothers died in an abandoned mine. Denouncing poverty and unemployment, Jerada’s population took its frustration to the streets demanding social justice and economic alternatives.
